The Dragon Arrows

The Dawn War

A prehistoric war waged between dragons and aberrations before the schism of the gods.

Immediately following creation, Toril still thrummed with the heat of potential— the nascent planet was a swirling crucible of magic and malleability. As the gods set about the millenia-long task of shaping the world to their master Ao’s intent, they were shocked to find that life had emerged on its own. Primordial lifeforms empowered by the raw energy of inception had developed into a host of grotesque shapes that defied the vision established at the dawn of time.

Asmodeus, seneschal of Ao, tasked the twin gods Bahamut and Tiamat to eradicate the corruption. Bahamut and Tiamat created the first dragons to enact their campaign of destruction on the emerging civilizations. Battle raged across the globe as the dragons, empowered by the elements and arcane mastery, brought their wrath upon the enemy they were born to destroy. However, from the benthic depths of Toril’s oceans, The Abolethic empire was able to halt the rampage by wielding a terrifying power unknown to the gods.

Reaching out with their minds, the aboleths were able to enslave other aberrations into a united resistance against the dragons, but the might of the firstborn was insurmountable. The dragons toppled the empire, but the aboleths were able to achieve one last spiteful ritual as their cities crumbled around them. The dragons were victorious, but the deathblow of the aboleths was catastrophic— only a fraction of their numbers remained.

The history of the Dawn War is today only common knowledge among dragons, and the most learned of Elf and Dragonborn scholars. The dragons themselves prefer to keep details of the events obscured, though all will boast heartily over their racial conquest of their hated enemies. No observance of a living aboleth has been recorded since this time, and dragons will go to great lengths to confiscate or destroy any abolethic relics or traces that surface.